The history of the Kulczyk Investments Group is the story of achievements spanning four generations of entrepreneurs, who over a number of decades have built the foundations of a family business. In 1991, Jan Kulczyk founded Kulczyk Holding (KH), which completed a series of ground-breaking investment projects over the next few years, becoming an important link in Poland’s economic transformation.
Among other things, the KH Group created the largest Polish automotive group, an importer and dealer in Skoda, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Bentley cars, a chain which sold more than one million cars over a period of twenty years, and was the undisputed leader on the Polish market. It was the co-founder of Kompania Piwowarska, the largest brewery group in Poland, and one of the most modern breweries in the world. It was the strategic partner to the SABMiller group, and prior to the global merger with AB InBev it was the largest private shareholder in the global concern, with a stake valued at more than PLN 10 billion. The KH Group was also the architect and leader of the consortium that constructed the first toll motorway in Poland, and party to the largest Polish PPP, the Konin – Świecko section of the A2 motorway, built at a total cost of PLN 9 billion.
In 2007, an international investment group was formed on the foundations of KH, active in the most strategic sectors of the economy, crude oil and gas, raw minerals, generation of power, and distribution and trade power and gas. The company, with its headquarters in Luxembourg, took the name Kulczyk Investments, and in the years that followed it completed dozens of ventures and complex investment projects in more than 30 countries on four continents. This made Jan Kulczyk the first Polish entrepreneur to be active on a global scale. The long-term projects effected in cooperation with international investors, firms managing assets, and private business owners, expanded the investment portfolio to include real estate, infrastructure, and crude oil and gas projects. Jan Kulczyk was also the first Pole to be named on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people, and for many years topped the Polish rankings. In 2014, the Kulczyk Investments Group became the strategic shareholder in Ciech, a leading chemical group in Europe, which was listed on the WSE and FSE.
Today, Kulczyk Investments is owned by Sebastian Kulczyk. It is growing primarily in the new technologies sector, investing long-term in medium-sized European companies in selected sectors. Through the venture capital fund Manta Ray, it is developing a portfolio of technological companies with major potential for growth, and supports the most talented entrepreneurs with a mission to introduce transformation solutions for instance for the education, biotechnologies, and future infrastructure sectors.